CARLO ANCELOTTI waved seven times to the Chelsea fans as his side stuck two fingers up to the banner writers who questioned the players’ commitment and called for the manager’s head.

It may have been against managerless Ipswich, who lie 19th in the Championship table, but yesterday’s FA Cup rout was clearly a relief for under-pressure Ancelotti.

Ancelotti and his players arrived at their Cobham training ground on Friday to banners that read ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’ and ‘Ancelotti and Abramovich out’. But they left Stamford Bridge to a standing ovation and, perhaps crucially, with some confidence restored.

Nicolas Anelka came back into the starting line-up in his favoured central striking role and netted for the first time in 11 games, Ancelotti decided against resting Frank Lampard and he scored twice, and Daniel Sturridge justified his selection.

Understandably, though, Ancelotti – who could meet with owner Roman Abramovich this week – was wary of making any grand declarations that Chelsea are now back to their best.

“No, I’m not going to get carried away,” said Ancelotti. “The result was good and we did a lot of things well in this game.

“We have to give the same performance next week against Blackburn. We have to wait to say everything is OK. Nobody’s happy at the moment.

“It’s very nice to hear the fans like that. We all have to be close and the fans showed fantastic support.”

It may have cost Chelsea another £500,000, but the contribution of Sturridge could yet prove to be priceless for Ancelotti if the Blues can now take their FA Cup form into the Premier League. Sturridge’s 40th appearance means Chelsea have now paid Manchester City £5.5million for the 21-year-old, with another £1m due if he goes on to represent England.

Ancelotti had watched Sturridge net five times for the club’s reserves against Tottenham just a day after seeing his senior side suffer a humiliating defeat at Wolves last week.

And, fortunately for Ancelotti, who would have struggled to survive another embarrassment, Sturridge picked up against Ipswich where he had left off against Tottenham reserves.

Just 60 seconds after Salomon Kalou had settled the home side’s nerves by sliding Anelka’s shot over the line, Sturridge netted only his eighth senior Chelsea goal by backheeling Jose Bosingwa’s cross into the net.

An own-goal from David Norris and Anelka’s goal completely killed the tie, before Sturridge again proved value for money by cushioning a Lampard pass with his left foot and spanking the ball into the net with his right.

Lampard rounded off the thrashing by scoring from the edge of the penalty area and then turning a Branislav Ivanovic cross into the net. “Every player has to be ready when the moment arrives,” said Ancelotti. “For Daniel Sturridge, it was a good last game with the reserves, scoring a lot of goals. He deserved to play.”

It spoke volumes of Ipswich, who sacked Roy Keane last Thursday with Paul Jewell the favourite to take over, that goalkeeper Marton Fulop was one of their better performers.

Fulop could be forgiven for never wanting to return to Stamford Bridge. He conceded seven goals against Chelsea for Sunderland in January last year.